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MeganD
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MeganD

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      • May 11, 2021 at 8:38 pm
      MeganD
      Participant
        My heart breaks for all of you.

        Sending warm thoughts.

        Megan

        • May 3, 2021 at 1:22 pm
        MeganD
        Participant
          Hi Danielle –

          I had a particularly nasty scar on my lower leg after a WLE for in-situ and opted for laser treatment.

          They tend to leave lower leg WLE’s open (no stitches so the wound heals from an open/unstitched state). This scar was about the size of a nickel with a distinct depression into my skin. I recently completed 3 Fraxel laser treatments from a laser specialist who works in a highly respected skin cancer and derm clinic. The results are impressive.

          If you go this route, note that the scar will look worse before it gets better because the scar and the area around it will be darkened, like a dark purple bruise, for 1-3 months.

          I also find silicone scar strips work great and feel very comfortable.

          Megan

          • March 11, 2021 at 10:40 am
          MeganD
          Participant
            Thank you for your responses. The path report staged it as pT1a, pNX.  Which would indicate that it is more than In Situ, so…confusing.  (Healing from WLE now!).

             

             

            • March 8, 2021 at 2:29 pm
            MeganD
            Participant
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              • February 17, 2021 at 8:25 pm
              MeganD
              Participant
                Please do let me know and I will investigate also getting the genetic test as what you are sharing is very interesting.

                I too recently read some of the same type of articles. A melanoma pathology is not binary at all, but more a “possibly” based on indicators.

                 

                • February 17, 2021 at 3:28 pm
                MeganD
                Participant
                  I agree! Great to have another one who has 1A.

                  You know, I have never seen any of my path reports, but I will certainly ask for my last one asap.

                  Interesting about the genetic test of your Mel. Q: What is the benefit of doing this?

                  FYI…I am in the Bay Area. What part of the country are you in?

                   

                  Thx!

                  • February 17, 2021 at 11:53 am
                  MeganD
                  Participant
                    Hi Danielle –

                    I very much appreciate your response and suggestion for purchasing a dermascope.

                    To answer your questions:

                    • I have always had “higher risk” skin (> ave # of moles, dysplastic moles, very fair, sun “worshiping” when I was young) so my derm has always removed a mole here and there for many years at every visit. She literally walked into the room one day, pointed to a spot near my knee and said, “let’s remove this one today” as it was a shape unique to my other moles, but present since my teen years. She looked at it with a dermatoscope and said it looked fine, but wanted to remove it anyway. That was Mel #1.
                    • My In situ: Same story. A little different shape from the others. It took UCSF a while to figure out what it was because it seemed to be on top of a scar from a bug bite (mosquito, likely).
                    • Mel #2: My derm was on vacation, so a different derm conducted my skin check and looked at a mole that I had since I was a teen and unchanged to my eye and looked unchanged from my mole map images. Derm was iffy on the dermotascope view of it and wanted to remove it. FYI, my skin is checked carefully by derms every 4 months including by a former head of UCSF Melonoma clinic so this has been looked at recently and many times before.

                    What concerns me, besides the obvious, is finding these seems so random. Feels like I am playing Russian Roulette and when I ask the various docs about this, I simply get a, “we will keep a close eye on you”. Hard to relax.

                     

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